At a San Francisco rally at the Civic Center to protest the Israeli attack and murder of members of the Freedom Flotilla, Jack Heyman a member of the ILWU Local 10 Executive Board supported the action of the Swedish Portworkers Union to stop handling all cargo and ships from Israel from June 15 through June 24. He called for similar action globally.

YouTube - ILWU10 EB Member Heyman Supports Swedish Porworkers Union Boycott Of Israeli Ships/Cargo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64aqrjNOqds Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10 Executive Board member at a rally in San Francisco Civic Center on June 5, 2010 to protest the murder and attack by the Israeli military on the Freedom Flotilla endorsed the action of the Swedish Portworkers Union to refuse to handle any Israel cargo starting on June 15. Transport Workers Solidarity Committee http://www.transportworkers.org

TWSC Statement In Support Of World Labor Boycott Action Of Israel 6/5/2010 http://www.transportworkers.org/node/1451 Support World Labor Boycott Action Of Israel Statement From The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee TWSC 6/5/2010

The pirate attack on the Peace Flotilla in international waters and the murder of more than ten people on the Turkish flagged ship Mavi Marmara is another escalation by the Israeli regime to continue their illegal and brutal encirclement of Gaza and the 1.4 million people and the building of the Zionists' apartheid wall in the West Bank. The world labor movement including the International Dockworkers Council (IDC), International Transport Workers Federation(ITF), International Trade Union Confederation(ITUC), South African Municipal Workers' Union(SAMUW), South African National Union Of Mineworkers(NUM), Canadian Union of Public Employees(CUPE), COSATU, British Trade Union Congress(TUC) have all protested these criminal attacks by the Israeli government. The British University and College Union(UCU) has also broken ties with the Histadrut Trade Union Of Israel and Brighton University lecturer Tom Hickey, said that the Histadrut had supported “the Israeli assault on civilians in Gaza” in January 2009, and “did not deserve the name of a trade union organization.” Most importantly, the Swedish Portworkers' Union is also initiating a complete boycott of all Israeli ships and cargo from June 15 through June 24. This is in addition to the action of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) in February of 2009 to protest the Zionist massacre of Palestinians in the Gazan war. The SATAWU has also welcomed the Swedish Port Workers Union and "We call for an escalation of the boycott of Israeli goods and call upon our fellow trade unionists not to handle them." Now is the time for all transportation workers to act in unity and stop all handling of cargo and ships from Israel. This includes the large shipping firm Zim Lines which docks in Ports throughout the world and El Al Airlines which flies globally. This is the kind of powerful workers action that was used during the fight against the South African apartheid regime and helped bring it down. It must be used again today against this criminal apartheid regime in Israel. The Transport Workers Solidarity Committee supports and urges actions and encourages unionists and others to report on their action at http://www.transportworkers.org

Palestinian Trade Union Movement Calls on International Dockworkers Unions to Block Loading/Offloading Israeli Ships Posted by BNC Palestine on Mon, 06/07/2010 - 13:13 Palestinian Trade Union Movement Calls on International Dockworkers Unions to Block Loading/Offloading Israeli Ships Until Israel Complies Fully with International Law and Ends its Illegal Siege of Gaza June 7, 2010- The Palestinian trade union movement, as a key constituent member of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) calls on dockworkers' unions worldwide to block Israeli maritime trade in response to Israel’s massacre of humanitarian relief workers and activists aboard the Freedom Flotilla, until Israel complies with international law and ends its illegal blockade of Gaza. Drunk with power and impunity, Israel has ignored recent appeals by the UN Secretary General as well as a near consensus among world governments to end its siege, putting the onus on international civil society to shoulder the moral responsibility of holding Israel accountable to international law and ending its criminal impunity. Dockworkers around the world have historically contributed to the struggle against injustice, most notably against the apartheid regime in South Africa, when port workers unions refused to load/offload cargo on/from South African ships as a most effective way of protesting the apartheid regime. Today, we ask you to join the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), who resolved [1] not to offload Israeli ships in Durban in February 2009 in protest of Israel’s war of aggression on Gaza, and the Swedish Dockworkers Union [2] who resolved to blockade all Israeli ships and cargo to and from Israel in protest of Israel's attack against the Freedom Flotilla and the ongoing deadly Israeli siege of the occupied Gaza Strip. Israel’s ongoing blockade of essential food, health, educational and construction supplies is not only immoral; it is a severe form of collective punishment, a war crime that is strictly prohibited under Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, that is inducing mass poverty, water contamination, environmental collapse, chronic diseases, economic devastation and hundreds of deaths. This three-year old medieval siege against 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, has been squarely condemned by leading legal experts, including UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Prof. Richard Falk, who described it as constituting "slow genocide." Israel's deplorable attacks on the unarmed ships are a violation of both international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that "the high seas should be reserved for peaceful purposes." Under article 3 of the Rome Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation of 1988, it is an international crime for any person to seize or exercise control over a ship by force, and also a crime to injure or kill any person in the process. As prominent international law scholars have recently confirmed, there is absolutely no legal justification for Israel's act of aggression against international civilian ships carrying humanitarian and developmental aid to civilians suffering under occupation and a patently illegal blockade, which has created a man-made and deliberately sustained humanitarian catastrophe. Our response must be commensurate with this crisis. Gaza today has become the test of our universal morality and our common humanity. During the South African anti-apartheid struggle, the world was inspired by the brave and principled actions of dockworkers unions who refused to handle South African cargo, contributing significantly to the ultimate fall of apartheid. Today, we call on you, dockworkers unions of the world, to do the same against Israel's occupation and apartheid. This is the most effective form of solidarity to end injustice and uphold universal human rights. Signed: - Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU)

- General Union of Palestinian Workers (GUPW)

- Federation of Independent Trade Unions (IFU)

- Palestinian Professionals Association **

- Youth Workers Movement (Fatah)

- Central Office for the Workers Movement (Fatah)

- Progressive Workers Block

- Workers Unity Block

- Workers Struggle Block

- Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE) –part of IFU

At its Central Executive Committee (CEC) meeting Friday 4th June, SAMWU unanimously endorsed a motion to immediately work towards every municipality in South Africa to become an Apartheid Israel free zone.

As part of the global Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions Campaign (BDS) SAMWU has agreed to engage every single municipality to ensure that there are no commercial, academic, cultural, sporting or other linkages whatsoever with the Israeli regime. Every SAMWU branch will immediately approach municipal and water authorities to become part of the BDS campaign, and to publicly declare their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

This decision was taken in response to the appalling actions of the Israeli regime against the Palestinian people, and especially the recent military intervention against the peace flotilla that aimed to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza.

The SAMWU CEC congratulated the ANC Government for exercising diplomatic pressure on the Israeli regime but urged Government to take further steps to isolate the regime until there is a genuine independent democratic state for all the people of Palestine.

SAMWU pledged its active support to the Coalition for a Free Palestine (CFP), and also congratulated its sister union SATAWU for refusing to handle Israeli goods at the ports.

Finally the CEC urged all unions and civil society organisations to join in this crucial campaign, to take whatever action they can to further isolate Israeli Apartheid, and to be a positive part of the solution to the terrible humanitarian catastrophe that faces the Palestinian people.

For further comment contact Steve Faulkner, SAMWU’s International and Equality Officer on 0828175455